Candle filter elements are often used in the filtration of gasses containing entrained particulate matter. Where the gasses are corrosive and are at high temperatures as is the case with flue gasses, such filter elements are preferably formed of ceramic. For many years such filter elements were heavy and relatively fragile. U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,467 describes an improved ceramic filter element which is formed entirely of ceramic but is not as brittle and fragile as the earlier types of ceramic filter elements. This patented candle filter element comprises a ceramic skeletal base which is filled with a porous ceramic material. The skeletal base consists of randomly disposed ceramic fibers bonded together at their intersections, with the interstices filled or partially filled with ceramic particles which are bonded to one another and to the skeletal base to form a unitary elongate tubular filter element which is open at one end and closed at the other.
In order to facilitate the mounting of filter candles within a filter tank, the open ends thereof are usually provided with external annular flanges which are adapted to fit into the counterbores of a tube sheet or the like from which the filter candles are suspended in the filter chamber. Although the said patented candles are stronger than the prior art type candles which did not include a skeletal base, they are still somewhat fragile, and because of the relatively great length and narrow width thereof, it has been found that the ends of the candles are subjected to substantial stress during use and shipment and are, therefore, frequently broken. One attempt to reduce such breakage has been to embed perforate metallic reinforcing members in the end portions of the candles.